Facebook’s latest changes back it up: Engagement is what matters.

“Facebook Slightly Tweaked How The Site Works — And It Screwed An Entire Profession”

One particular upset commentator noted:

Yes, Alexander – there is something wrong with that – you shouldn’t have been trying to gather page fans in the first place.

At EzyInsights we try to convey at every opportunity how little value there is in having a Facebook fan. They have zero intrinsic value. The most important – perhaps the only important thing to consider when building a Facebook presence for your brand is high quality Engagement.

Engagement doesn’t mean whipping up a flurry of cheap likes – engagement means getting people interested enough in your content that they comment upon it and share it.

Engagement doesn’t mean asking people to tag their friends for the chance of a freebie, it means starting a conversation that people reading want to take part in.

Engagement doesn’t mean plastering your brand’s Facebook wall with unrelated memes in order to ride a wave of internet popularity, it means creating content relevant to the people you want to talk to.

Facebook changes which stop cheap, spammy content from appearing on user timelines is a positive thing for everyone – except companies who produce poor content! There are plenty of companies out there who have huge engagement figures that are completely irrelevant to their own brand and business.

Stop focusing on reach and clickthroughs, these statistics are outdated on Social Media.

Stop trying to game the system. Having a herd of millions of fans or followers who are just there for the free food, prizes, memes, cat pictures, nostalgia or idiotic feelgood messages is not going to drive your business forward.

If you have good content, you will see good results when you do put money behind promoting it. If you pay to broadcast messages no one cares about, don’t expect to suddenly change how people feel.

Finally – Look at what matters – your community. Listen to what they are talking about, to you and to each other. Analyse your data and see what generates conversation – use that data to shape your content – do this over and over again.